Combinations of metals and oxidizers are of interest as energetic materials due to their high energy content. The high energy density of such materials can make them useful in, for example, propellant applications, where rapid energy release is desired. While aluminum has a high energy density for oxidation to alumina, the oxidation of bulk aluminum materials is diffusion limited. Utilizing small particle size aluminum materials, which have a higher surface to volume ratio, can provide improvements in surface area and reaction rate. Nanosized aluminum materials can be especially reactive due to the high heat of reaction from aluminum to alumina.
Various methods to prepare nanosized aluminum materials have been explored, but such traditional methods typically include a high temperature evaporation step and produce similar types of highly aggregated polycrystalline particles.
Low temperature solution methods have been developed based on the decomposition of aluminum compounds, but a need exists for low temperature gas phase methods for the production of energetic nanosized aluminum materials. This need and other needs are satisfied by the compositions and methods of the present disclosure.